Private James Brown was awarded the MM for gallant and distinguished services in the field relating to his successful escape in October 1943 after being captured during the raid at St Nazaire in March 1942 [1] . He was one of the Commando contingent on board HMS Campbeltown [2].

Pte. Brown escaped to Switzerland with two others, LSgt. Dick Bradley (2 Commando) and LSgt. Alf Searson (2 Commando). They were then interned. All 3 were later awarded the MM.

On return to Britain at the end of the war, Jim Brown spent a year in the Auchengeoch pit, near Glasgow, with a grant from the Commandos which he made a point of paying back. This experience gave him entrance to the mining engineering course at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow, and then to Glasgow University. He joined Royal Dutch Shell, and served Shell in Trinidad, Turkey, Kuwait and Venezuela. Later he became a respected Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. [3]